This isn't flying, this is falling with style
by Oi-Watch-It-Spaceman
Summary: The Doctor is Sarah-Jane's favourite toy, living happily in her room with his best friend, the handsome action figure Captain Jack Harkness. When Sarah-Jane brings home a new toy, a doll named Rose, the Doctor takes it upon himself to help Rose adjust to her new life. Basically Doctor Who, Toy Story style. TenxRose
1. Chapter 1

**OK, so I don't know where this idea came from, but I just love Toy Story. Also I have a tenth Doctor action figure, and I love to imagine him wandering around the room when I'm not there, having adventures and so forth. So here you are - enjoy!**

Sarah-Jane ran around her bedroom, shouting at the top of her voice and clutching a blue painted cardboard box. "Take off!" she yelled, jumping up on her bed and spinning the makeshift spaceship before making a crash landing on the crumpled quilt. She opened the door and dragged out the Doctor, making him look around and twisting his legs so he could stand up without falling over.

"Hmm, this seems to be a world with no living creatures," Sarah-Jane said in her Doctor voice, bringing his plastic hand up to his chin and making him stroke it, clearly deep in thought – she had seen people do it on the telly when her mum watched 'CSI', it seemed to be a clever person thing.

She reached behind her, making the Doctor walk forwards before quickly slamming down a small plastic rhinoceros in front of the Doctor.

"GRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRGH!" roared Sarah-Jane, making the Doctor stumble backwards and fall against the TARDIS (this was what Sarah-Jane had named the spaceship. It had taken her a long time and had been painstakingly fixed and repainted dark blue when it broke. She could no longer remember the 6 words that had given the TARDIS its name. It had been years since she had made it out of an old cardboard box, and the full name had been forgotten, buried under layers of blue paint, cardboard patches and masking tape.)

"Fascinating," she made the Doctor say, "a Judoon, possibly the last one in existence." She was just about to make the Doctor walk forwards and confront the Judoon when her mum's voice came floating up the stairs.

"Sarah-Jane, we're going shopping now, we've got to get you new school shoes, come on!"

Sarah-Jane threw the Doctor down on her bed, jumping onto the floor and across the room, pulling the door shut behind her. The front door slammed, the car drove off. For a few moments there was silence. The Doctor moved, pushing himself up on his elbows and twisting his neck from side to side. "Rough landing this time," he muttered, turning his left foot around so it was facing the right way, before standing up. He bounded over to the edge of the bed, climbing down and hanging from the duvet before dropping onto the floor.

"Coast is clear!" he shouted, and the bedroom came to life.

A group of little Lego men and women came jumping out of their box in the corner, marching in a gang across the rug on the floor to rescue the bricks that Sarah-Jane had unknowingly kicked under the chest of drawers. The Doctor wandered over to the desk, narrowly avoiding being hit by the 'Lion King' toys that were stampeding across the room towards the 'watering hole' – it was really just a plastic rock pool with a little water in the bottom, not really very interesting at all, but the plastic lions and zebra seemed to like it. He used the chair to climb up and sit on the top of the desk and picked up one of Sarah-Jane's pencils, a stubby one that was about half his height, before doodling on a spare piece of coloured paper.

"If Sarah-Jane sees that then you're screwed," said a voice from behind him, and the Doctor looked around to see Captain Jack Harkness pulling himself over the other side of the desk. Captain Jack was the Doctor's best friend, an action man style toy made from hard plastic, with a sculpted face and torso that most toys would die for. He was an army toy, but Sarah-Jane had wanted him for her birthday and he had fitted in well with the other toys in the room. He was the subject of heartache for many a neglected Barbie and for most of the other toys as well.

The Doctor, however, did not mind this. Jack was an exceptionally good-looking toy, though the Doctor thought that he was not too bad himself. He was about the same height as Jack but slimmer, made of plastic that was slightly softer, not quite as hard to the touch. He had skinny limbs and a reasonable face with (he was loath to admit) freckles on it. The only thing he really had better than Jack was his hair. Jack, as a soldier, had hard plastic hair. The Doctor's hair, on the other hand, was thick and soft, proper hair that stuck up in a ruffled style that he liked. Sarah-Jane liked to play with it sometimes, trying to smooth it down into a neat parting before sticking it back up again. The Doctor actually quite enjoyed this, though he would never admit it. He even had sideburns that Jack coveted endlessly.

The Doctor took himself out of his thoughts and turned as Jack sat down next to him. They perched on the edge of the desk with their legs dangling over the edge above the toy cars that were racing each other (again.)

"What were you doing down there?" asked the Doctor, suddenly realising that Jack had scaled the side of the desk that pressed against the wall.

"Oh, I was doing some climbing around the ledge when Sarah-Jane dropped me, she was going to pick me up but she forgot. She'll remember in a few days." He shrugged then grinned. "Met a couple of cute Star Wars action figures down there though." He winked and the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"You're going to be thrown out of here if you keep on like this, you've only been in the room for six months and you're probably on your way to having broken every heart here."

"All but one," Jack said, leaning in towards the Doctor and fluttering his eyelashes. "Care to complete the set?" The Doctor laughed and shoved him away, waving to the teddy bears on the opposite shelf, who appeared to be having another picnic.

They spent the afternoon playing chess with the old set that was stuffed under the bed, the Doctor beating Jack four times in a row before Jack refused to play any more – it would be another few weeks before Jack decided that he would "maybe win this time." In the six months he had been in the bedroom he had only won twice. He was still not convinced that the Doctor hadn't let him win.

The Doctor and Jack were just clearing away the pieces when there was the sound of a car in the drive. The Doctor looked up immediately, years of life as a toy attuning his ears to the sound of the family returning to the house.

"Everyone!" he bellowed, turning around to face the room and making sure that everyone else had heard him. It was a mark of their respect and admiration for him that all the toys stopped immediately, understanding that he had something of importance to say.

"They're back." That was all he needed to say. At once the room was a flurry of movement, toys intent on getting back to their respective places before Sarah-Jane got back to the room. They never quite managed to be smooth and organised in their efforts, but as long as they weren't in the wrong places then it didn't really matter.

The Doctor clambered back onto the bed, turning around to see Jack lowering himself back down the side of the desk. He hated to see Jack stuck down there, unable to come back out until Sarah-Jane went and found him, but Jack seemed cheerful enough, so the Doctor tried not to feel bad as he bounced across the bed to the TARDIS. He threw himself back down onto the bed into his previous position, twisting his leg back around to an awkward angle and freezing in place, just as he heard footsteps on the stairs.

**Introducing Rose in the next chapter :P review if you want, the next chapter should be up soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I introduced Rose in this chapter - woohoo! Also, the idea of Rose in the plastic bag was something I took from Toy Story 2, where Jessie doesn't want to go back in the box because she has horrible memories of being shut in storage. I imagine this would be a really terrifying experience, so I thought I'd work it in. Also, the "no-one is getting replaced" quote from Toy Story. I couldn't resist :P**

Sarah-Jane ran into the room clearly in some great hurry. The Doctor saw her chuck a plastic bag down on the bed, right at the edge of his field of vision, knocking the TARDIS onto the floor in the process. He could not tell what it was, but he was certain that it was a toy of some kind. He remained still until Sarah-Jane had run out of the room again, shutting the door behind her with a bang. The first thing the Doctor did once the door had closed was to glance at the clock. It read half past six. Of course, dinner time.

In the short seconds it took the Doctor to register this fact, the room had become filled with the sounds of the toys, dragging themselves out from drawers, climbing down from shelves and talking like there was not tomorrow, only one topic of conversation on their minds – the bag on the bed.

Knowing that he had to stop things getting out of control, the Doctor leapt off the side of the bed, landing with bump on the floor and standing up, holding out his hands towards the mob of toys to make them stop.

"It's fine everyone, new toy, it's just a new toy." He waved his hand, anxious to get everyone to carry on with their business. "Oh, and no-one is getting replaced." It would've annoyed him how often he had to reassure the rest of the toys that they would continue to get played with, but the fact was that without being played with, the life of a toy really wasn't that interesting.

Slightly reassured by the Doctor, the toys slowly dispersed, clearly curious but keeping a lid on it until the Doctor had gone to investigate. He took his usual route up the handles of the drawers in the bedside table, stepping onto the pillow and taking a look around. He was met with the sight of a white plastic bag, twisted at the top where Sarah-Jane's hands had gripped it. He could see movement in the bag, and remembered the feeling of claustrophobia that came with being stuck in a bag or a box. Most toys felt it, some more than others, and the movements inside the bag were getting more and more frantic. The new toy would have to get back in the bag when Sarah-Jane came back, but in the meantime the Doctor was anxious to make sure they were alright.

The Doctor ran over to the bag, bouncing on the springy mattress as he went. He dragged the white plastic aside, reaching in and finding a hand, which he grabbed onto like it was a lifeline. He pulled, pushing the bag away as he did so and eventually helping a coughing and spluttering toy out of its plastic prison.

"Are you OK?" asked the Doctor, stepping back and giving the toy room to breathe. At second glance it was clear that the toy was a woman, wearing jeans and trainers and a purple t-shirt. She had soft blonde hair that covered her face and, unlike Barbie, who was sitting in the corner of the toy box and couldn't move her arms and legs very well, this toy had joints in her elbows and knees.

The new toy coughed again, before raising her head and peering up at the Doctor from her position sprawled on the duvet. She had big brown eyes, not unlike the Doctor's own, but slightly lighter and, in his opinion, infinitely more entrancing. She had a beautiful face, which broke into a dazzling grin that made him feel as though he must've done something wonderful to deserve being looked at like that.

"Fine, thanks," she replied, with a false confidence that the Doctor could not help but notice, scraping her hair back from her face and peering around the room. "Where exactly am I?"

"You're in Sarah-Jane's room," the Doctor told her, "you'll like Sarah-Jane, she's great and she treats us really well. I'm the Doctor by the way." He extended a hand, both as a form of greeting and as a means for her to pull herself to a standing position. She took it, wobbling for a moment on the unstable mattress before finding her balance.

"Doctor what?"

"I get that a lot. It's just 'the Doctor.'" He put his hands in his pockets and grinned at her. "What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Ooh, good name." The Doctor wondered why he had chosen this moment to begin vomiting out random sentences without bothering to filter them for idiocy first. Jack often said that when the Doctor started rambling it was best just to hide and wait, there was absolutely no stopping him once he got going.

Rose smiled, looking around the room as she did so. "So this is a bedroom? Interesting."

"Where did you come from, Rose?" He enjoyed using her name, it was bright and mysterious and wonderful. He really hoped she didn't notice how much he enjoyed saying it.

Rose considered for a moment, as though she couldn't really remember. "It was a little shop, I think, I wasn't really paying attention – you know how it is, you're sort of dazed until you're picked up and bought, I suppose. Anyway, I was picked up and shoved in a plastic bag and brought here. I've got other clothes and everything." She kicked the plastic bag with her foot, trying to sound enthusiastic when really she seemed a bit out of her depth.

"It's OK," said the Doctor, reaching forward without thinking and grasping her hand in his own. Her plastic hand was soft and supple, even more so than his own, and it fitted with his perfectly. "Everyone feels like this at first, it's a lot to take in. Don't worry; it won't take long for you to settle down."

Rose looked up at him, worry in her eyes, and just opened her mouth to reply when another voice floated up from the far side of the bed.

"Am I missing a party?" shouted Jack, dragging himself up onto the duvet and jumping to his feet. To be honest, the Doctor was surprised Jack had managed to stay away for this long. As one of the leading toys in the room, the Doctor was the one who dealt with new arrivals, but Jack was never far behind, always eager to get a look at the latest addition to Sarah-Jane's toy box.

The Doctor pulled his hand out of Rose's, hoping that he did not imagine the flicker of disappointment cross her face. "Jack, this is Rose. Rose, this is Captain Jack Harkness."

Jack took Rose's hand and kissed it, fixing her with his blue eyes and causing Rose to blush. The Doctor sighed, rolling his eyes. _Here we go again._

"Hi, Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?"

"Give her a second, Jack, she's only just got here."

Jack sighed and took a step back, grinning at Rose as he did so. "Apparently I can come on a little strong – personally I think he's just jealous that I give other people all my attention."

"Jack, this is Rose," said the Doctor, ignoring the smug look on Jack's face, "Rose, this is Jack. He will continue to flirt with you and then break your heart, but once you get past that phase of the relationship he makes an excellent friend."

They all laughed at that, the Doctor noticing that Rose had relaxed a bit more. She didn't seem to have liked being stuck in that plastic bag, a sentiment he could definitely relate to – over the years he had grown used to being shut up in the dark in cramped spaces, but he still hated it with a vengeance. He had noticed her shaking a little when he had grasped her hand to pull her out, but she had definitely calmed down now. What the Doctor _didn't_ notice was the way Rose's eyes crinkled up when she smiled, or that her giggle was sweet and beautiful and made you glad to be alive. Of course he didn't.

"Rose," said Jack suddenly, his expression twisting into one of mischief and glee that was subtle enough that Rose didn't detect it, "you're going to need someone to take you under their wing, as it were, show you the ropes and everything. I would volunteer myself, but Sarah-Jane dropped me down the back of the desk yesterday, so I doubt I'll be of much use." He gave such an obvious gasp that the Doctor resolved to chuck him into the lego box and shut the lid the next time he got the chance. "Doctor, why don't you show Rose around the room, help her to get settled and everything!"

"Jack," the Doctor said smoothly, folding his arms and looking unimpressed, "I always help the new toys out, I don't know why you would bother to even offer your services, and don't," he added as Jack opened his mouth to make some sort of innuendo about just what his "services" had to offer.

"Well Doctor, I'd love it if you'd show me 'round," said Rose, eyes seeming to light up at the prospect, "though ditching Jack first is probably a good idea. She grinned and looked at Jack, who pretended to be affronted before sauntering off and sliding down the duvet to the floor. The Doctor smiled at Rose, his impulses taking over as he grabbed her hand and told her to run.

They were catching their breath on the bedside table, the Doctor explaining to Rose the mechanics of being able to climb up and down the furniture quickly – one of the most important things that Rose had to learn was to be able to get back to her position in the room in a very short space of time – when the Doctor picked up footsteps on the stairs.

"Positions everyone, she's coming!" he shouted. Rose covered her ears, but the Doctor pulled her hands away and kept hold of one, practically dragging her back the way they had come.

"Rose, you've got to get back in the bag," the Doctor panted, stopping next to the bundle of white plastic and turning towards Rose.

She looked uncertain, hiding under a mask of bravery that was doing nothing to conceal the fact that she was scared, though the Doctor respected her so much for trying to keep herself calm. "Doctor," she almost whispered, "Doctor, I don't think I can. I couldn't breathe in there, I—"

The Doctor, aware of the footsteps getting closer to the bedroom door, took Rose by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Rose, listen to me. I promise I will get you out again. Now go!"

Rose held his gaze for a moment, and the Doctor recognised trust in her expression. She climbed back into the plastic, the Doctor quickly pushing the remainder of the bag back into place. As he threw himself down next to it he felt something digging into his side. He looked down and saw that Rose's hand was pressing through the plastic. For once not thinking about the fact that Sarah-Jane was about to burst through the door, he Doctor reached over and took the hand. It felt wrong, with none of the same texture or warmth that he remembered from holding her hand only a moment ago, but he gripped it anyway. Rose needed all the reassurance she could get.

**There might not be loads of chapters to this fic, I plan to make it into a series, so there should be a few shorter stories rather than one long one. Still, you never know :P Review if you want, hope you enjoy it - my tumblr url is donna-and-her-spaceman. Just in case you were curious...**


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter! This one has a little bit of angst, shows a little bit of the Doctor's past and everything. There are a few toy story quotes and references strewn throughout. I also shoved in some more doctor who references, like rose hitting the doctor with a plastic arm like she does in "Rose". It amused me, I hope it amuses you too.**

Over the next couple of days, the Doctor found himself holding Rose's hand a lot more than was probably normal. He might not have noticed it if it hadn't been for the pointed looks and knowing glances that Jack kept shooting at him whenever he saw them together.

It didn't help that Sarah-Jane had decided that Rose should be the Doctor's "companion" on his adventures – that is, someone to help him and ask questions and be impressed by him. Rose seemed sceptical of the idea, while Jack just found it hilarious. The first time Sarah-Jane had played this game, Rose had slipped off the edge of the bed. Sarah-Jane had had the Doctor look around for her for a while, and once Rose had been found Sarah-Jane had decided that Rose would keep wondering off, often ending up in ridiculous amounts of trouble.

This had resulted in Jack bellowing "DON'T WANDER OFF!" across the room at Rose when he saw her on her own without the Doctor. The Doctor found it funny, and one time had not been able to control his laughter. This had resulted in Rose smacking him on the arm with a plastic doll's arm she had found in the spare parts box. The Doctor had rubbed his arm and pulled a pathetic face, while Rose rolled her eyes and grinned.

They spent a lot of time sitting on the desk together, drawing pictures on scrap pieces of paper and swapping stories. The Doctor and Jack had a lot more stories than Rose, who didn't have any. Jack had a habit of making himself sound much more heroic than he actually was, and the Doctor found it very annoying when Jack was seen as a hero, when the Doctor was, in fact, the cooler toy – at least, in his opinion. "It's not that cool, he's not a...space ranger or something. He doesn't fight evil or...or shoot lasers or fly."

"Oh, like you do."

The Doctor drew himself up to his full height. "I'll have you know that I even have my own spaceship, _Captain_."

"Yeah, but is it real?" Rose asked, with the air of someone trying to explain to a child that his imaginary friend is not real.

"Well..." The Doctor shuffled his feet a little, hoping he wasn't blushing. "It's only a cardboard one, but it's still more than he's got." He jerked his head towards Jack, but made it clear that he was joking – he had learned long ago that he and Jack made a much better team when they weren't competing against each other. The first couple of weeks after Jack's arrival had been tense, with all the other toys absolutely certain that the Doctor was finally getting replaced.

"Hmm, cardboard, so impressive."

"I _am _so impressive," said the Doctor indignantly, poking Rose in the chest with one finger.

"Well the hair is very impressive, I'll give you that," Rose finally concluded, ruffling it with one hand.

The next day the Doctor spent a long time inspecting his hair in front of the mirror before going to find Rose, and spent almost as long that night convincing himself that his newfound interest in his normally perfectly attractive hair was nothing to do with what Rose had said. He wasn't very successful.

One morning they were busy running up and down the electric piano keyboard, stepping on the plastic keys with their feet and trying to co-ordinate so that they could play a song together. Jack was watching them from the other side of the room. Sarah-Jane had still not rescued him from behind the desk, and the boredom of having to stay down there whenever she was in the room was getting to him, so he was perusing the bookshelf, looking for a book that could keep him occupied. His search was not going well, for the simple reason that he kept stopping to laugh and the Doctor and Rose's attempts to create music with their feet.

"Stop doing that, you're putting me off!" shouted Rose, trying to play the bassline as the Doctor leapt around on the higher keys. In fact, he was so busy showing off that Rose eventually made him swap with her. It was all going well until Rose tripped over her own feet and fell over. The Doctor knew that he probably shouldn't have laughed as hard as he did, a thought that was proved to be correct when Rose growled and began to chase him. Their feet played clashing chords as they ran across the keyboard, over the floor and around the legs of the desk. Jack yelled on encouragement, and the Doctor soon found himself trapped in a corner, nowhere left to run.

"Jack," Rose called, and the Doctor was surprised by the swiftness with which Jack dropped down beside her. "Guard him for a sec, I need to get some ammo."

_Brilliant._

A few moments later the Doctor found himself being hailed by lego bricks, pen lids and, bizarrely, Monopoly houses and hotels. Those hotels hurt.

The Doctor finally held up his hands in defeat, kicking away the mound of plastic missiles at his feet to give himself enough room to walk.

"You win," he conceded.

"You're damn right, I win!" Rose said, before giving him a grin and hugging him tightly. Jack raised his eyebrow behind her back, and the Doctor scowled at him. The last thing he needed was for Jack to feel like it was his job to make pointed comments concerning the two of them, something that he had proven to be very adept at in the past.

The Doctor sat alone on the windowsill, looking at the moon. He did this most nights, enjoying the way that the moon changed every night, but always in a cycle, coming back around and starting again every 28 days. He liked that – it was familiar, almost comforting to him.

He heard Rose behind him before he saw her. It didn't help that plastic limbs were quite noisy when they hit the wood of the windowsill, but this wasn't it. The Doctor had found in the last few days that he seemed to have some sort of extra sense where Rose was involved. Either that or he was just imagining things.

"Not sleepy?" the Doctor asked, not turning around. Rose settled herself next to him, legs dangling over the edge before replying.

"I might ask you the same question."

"I don't like to sleep much – I don't like small, dark places anyway. Luckily Sarah-Jane doesn't keep me in the toy box any more, but I still like to get out here, breathe the fresh air, you know." He took a deep breath as if to demonstrate his point, and risked his first look at her. It was dark, but he could still see her features quite clearly, the night sky and moonlight draining her of colour until she looked like she was in a black and white photograph.

They were silent for a long time. Rose was giving the Doctor absolutely no pressure to talk, and yet now he was alone he had an urge to tell her everything, to finally open up and talk to her about himself and his past and his feelings. It was a foreign sensation to him, but he gave into it anyway.

"I'm quite an old toy, you see," he finally said, swinging his legs and looking out at the night sky. "I might not look it, but I've been changed a lot over the years, you see. Arms broken, legs snapped, even a new face a couple of times." He smiled a little, remembering what he used to look like. "I was bought for Sarah-Jane's mum, you see. It was a long time ago, but I still remember it. I was the Doctor, an alien with a space ship that could travel in time as well. Or at least, that was who I was supposed to be – mostly I'm just a toy, albeit a handsome and charming one with great hair." He winked at Rose and she grinned. The Doctor allowed himself a smile before the darkness of his thoughts wiped it from his face.

"Sarah-Jane's mum played with me for a while, but she grew up quickly. She wasn't really one for playing crazy games, she liked pink things and dressing up and all that stuff. So I was put away in the attic for a long time. They moved house a lot, that family, so I was carted from place to place, shoved in cupboards and boxes and left in the dark. It was about 30 years of being stuck in the darkness, on my own." He sighed, feeling Rose's hand on his arm, grateful for the comfort that she gave him.

"Eventually they tried to throw me away. I was in a bin bag on the pavement with a load of broken toys and old games in boxes. I managed to rip the plastic and get out though – just in time, too. I went back into the house and hid under one of the beds. They found me a few months later, all covered in dust, but this time they sent me off to get fixed. They cleaned me up all shiny and new, and gave me to Sarah-Jane to play with. That was 5 years ago now, and it's been the best time of my life. It's just... I always end up thinking about all the toys that I've seen over the years. They don't usually last as long as I have. They get broken or they wear away and rot, or sometimes they're just given away. I always lose anyone I care about, and I'm so tired of it. What's the point of being kept if you're going to end up all alone anyway?"

He stared up at the night sky, thinking about just how wonderful it would be to _really _be able to travel through the stars. He sensed that Rose was looking at him, but he didn't look back. The Doctor did not often share information of this sort with people, it made him feel sad and shy and defensive all at once. He didn't like it, so he didn't acknowledge Rose for a minute, allowing the silence to swirl around them like a cloak. It fitted with the darkness of the night, seemed natural.

Eventually Rose spoke softly, swinging her legs and looking into the distance. The Doctor could tell she was trying to make him feel less uncomfortable, and he was grateful for her efforts, even if they were in vain. "You're alright now though. I mean, you might feel like there's no-one left, but there's always me." The Doctor felt a smile brighten his face, and he squeezed her hand tightly.

Behind them there was the sound of movement, loud and jarring in the still night air, and they both jumped. The Doctor leapt up, closely followed by Rose, balancing on the windowsill and wondering whether they should make a break for the TARDIS, where it stood next to Sarah-Jane's bed, or whether they should stay there and hope that, if she awoke, she would not notice that they had moved. Sarah-Jane turned over in her bed, eyes suddenly opening. They both jumped again, and the Doctor just caught himself from moving backwards too far, over the edge of the windowsill. He could see that Sarah-Jane's eyes were still bleary from sleep, and he reached for Rose's hand, hoping to pull her with him onto the floor and lie low.

His hand closed on empty air.

The Doctor whipped around, just in time to see Rose's body disappearing over the window ledge. He threw himself forward, grabbing her hands and hooking his feet over the ledge to stop himself being pulled over with her. It didn't help. His hand slipped and grabbed on and slipped again, and he caught one last glimpse of Rose's terrified eyes through her windswept hair before her hand slid from his and she was falling. It was all the Doctor could do not to shout, to yell and scream and dive down after her, but he knew that he couldn't. He lay still, noting in the back of his mind that he could hear no more sounds from Sarah-Jane, and assuming that she had gone back to sleep. He saw her disappear into the bushes that grew below the window, heard the smack of her hitting the ground.

The Doctor might be a children's toy, but the string of curses that he muttered under his breath as he stared down into the darkness, not knowing if Rose was even conscious, were definitely not fit for the ears of children.

**I love a cliffhanger, even if it does make me feel mean :P don't worry, all will be resolved soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally got this chapter up! Been moving into my uni house this week, but I'm finally in and have time to continue that, which is good because I love it so much. Will definitely be writing a series of these :) Anyway, have some fluffy niceness!**

The Doctor stood up on the window sill, mind racing as he figured out the quickest way down to the ground to help Rose. As he saw it he had two options: either climb out of the window and drop down after her, or make his way through the house. The only problem with going through the house was that he would have to wait for Sarah-Jane's parents to go to bed – he could still faintly hear them downstairs – and he really did not want to wait any longer than necessary to find Rose. The problems with going out the window were fairly obvious. He was going to need a piece of rope so that he didn't fall down just like Rose had, he might break (the thought of Rose lying down there broken was one that he pushed to the back of his mind, trying not to let it take over his brain as he struggled to think clearly.

If he managed to get some sort of rope, it still wouldn't be long enough for him to reach the ground, which meant that, whatever he decided to do, he and Rose would have to make their way back through the house. The Doctor leaned against the window frame and banged his head softly against the wood, closing his eyes in frustration at the fact that he was now going to have to wait to rescue Rose.

"Doctor?" The voice startled him, and the Doctor span around to see Jack standing in front of him, looking concerned.

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply and found that his voice wouldn't come. He swallowed and tried again. "Rose. It's Rose, Sarah-Jane started waking up and we both jumped and she fell, I tried to grab her but she slipped and now she's down there in the dark and I can't tell if she's OK, she could be hurt or broken or..."

Jack stayed still, observing the Doctor try to control his emotions. The Doctor was aware that it was unlike him to be so open about what he was feeling (spending so much time with Rose was bound to rub off at some point) and he was glad that Jack wasn't trying to comfort him with hollow words – Jack knew as well as he did that Rose may very well not be alright, so what would be the point in saying so.

The Doctor had begun to pace up and down the windowsill, hands clutching his hair and making it stand up on end as he tried to come up with a plan. Jack waited a few seconds before making any attempt to stop him.

"Doctor," he said, grabbing the Doctor's arm as he went past, forcing the Doctor to turn around and face him, "what's the plan? We've got to do something, and we've got to do it soon."

The Doctor nodded, his face serious, lips pressed together in a thin line. "We wait until the parents are asleep, that should be about another hour, then we slide down the side of the house on the skipping rope, make sure Rose is alright, make it back into the house via the catflap and sneak back up here. Easy peasy." The edge of confidence was back in the Doctor's voice now, a sparkle in his eyes as he took control once again. He hopped off the windowsill, off the desk and out of sight, reappearing a few seconds later with two skipping ropes.

"We tie these together, they'll be long enough to reach almost to the ground. We find Rose, we make sure she's OK, we get back through the house and pull the ropes back up before anyone realises we've been gone."

Jack continued to look at the Doctor as he worked to tie the rope together. "Is this going to be another one of those plans where everything goes wrong? A "Scooby Doo" plan, as I like to call them. You know, it sounds great in theory, but we end up getting caught in our own trap and have to wait for someone to rescue _us._"

The Doctor looked up long enough to glare at Jack before carrying on, talking even faster than usual. "Well, I know that some of my plans don't exactly work as well as I would hope, but considering the fact that I always get us out of trouble in the end, and considering the fact that I'm the only one who ever actually makes any plans to begin with, I think that you can trust me on this one. There, finished."

The Doctor jumped down and looped the rope around one of the desk legs, knotting and pulling it tight before climbing back on the desk and letting the rope slowly out of the window.

"Why don't you just throw it down?" asked Jack, impatience beginning to show.

"Because it would clatter against the side of the house, and I don't particularly want to be discovered at this point, do you?" The Doctor's voice was heavy with sarcasm, and he scolded himself inwardly for taking his worry out on Jack. He would make it up to him later, he was certain.

Once the Doctor had let the rope down fully, he and Jack sat and waited, listening out for signs that Sarah-Jane's parents had finally gone to bed, giving them a clear run through the house without risk of being discovered.

The next hour passed painfully slowly.

The Doctor spent it sitting on the windowsill, peering down into the darkness to try and catch a glimpse of Rose, fists clenched and jaw tight. He could feel Jack's eyes on his back, keeping a close watch on him. A part of him resented this – did Jack think that he was going to do something stupid? Hadn't Jack known him long enough to know that he wouldn't just go leaping out of a window after Rose?

When they finally heard the sounds that indicated Sarah-Jane's parents going to be, the Doctor nodded to Jack and stood up, barely hesitating before launching himself out of the window.

The Doctor slid down the rope smoothly, not letting the fact that one slip could send him tumbling into the darkness scare him in the slightest. He hung on the end of the rope for a moment, gently swinging in the air before letting go and dropping down onto the ground. He rolled and jumped straight back up again, peering through the bushes and not even looking around to see if Jack had dropped down safely behind him.

He caught a glimpse of pink and yellow to his right, and dashed towards it, almost crying out in joy when he saw a completely alive and conscious Rose looking up at him from where she lay on the ground. She looked a little crumpled and shaken, and she was holding her leg at an odd angle, but aside from that she seemed fine.

"Rose," the Doctor said, kneeling down next to her and hugging her almost violently. She gripped him tightly in return – she was freezing, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Doctor," she pulled back, smiling a bit before smacking his shoulder. "You took your time!"

"Oi," the Doctor whined, rubbing his arm, "I could just leave you down here, you know, from the looks of it you're going to need me to fix that leg of yours, but if you want to stay here, you're more than welcome to."

Rose smirked. "You wouldn't leave me here, you'd be lost if it wasn't for me."

"Yes, I would," the Doctor stated without thinking, watching as her eyes widened."

"No offence, but couldn't your romantic reunion wait until we're inside. I'm dying of cold here."

"Jack!" Rose sounded delighted to see him, the Doctor felt jealousy flare inside him as he stepped aside and watched them hug. Jack stood up and turned to the Doctor, giving him a wink. "Um, Doctor, do you think you could do something about my leg now?" Rose peered around Jack's legs and looked up at him, pain showing through her smile. The Doctor sprang into action, carefully moving and looking at the leg while Rose hissed in pain, squeezing Jack's hand hard.

"OK, well it seems like your knee joint has come slightly out of place – not completely though, all I have to do is push it back into place and you should be fine." He rolled up his sleeves, not missing the fact that Rose seemed to enjoy the sight of his forearms a bit too much (they were quite nice forearms, even if he did say so himself.) The Doctor placed one hand just above Rose's knee, and one hand just below, positioning them carefully and trying not to move the leg too much.

"Rose?" Her eyes flickered upwards and found his. "I'm so sorry Rose, but this is going to hurt."

"Are you absolutely sure you know what you're doing?"

"Hey!" He gave her an indignant look and jabbed himself in the chest with his finger. "Doctor, remember?"

"Yeah, I bet you've got excellent qualifications," Rose muttered, causing a snort of laughter from Jack.

"If that's the way you feel, you can just _hop _back up to the room," the Doctor replied, unable to stop himself from grinning. He took a breath and pushed hard on Rose's leg. He heard a snap; Rose gritted her teeth and let out a yell of pain, eyes scrunching shut.

"There, all done." Rose slowly opened her eyes, moving her leg a little and starting to smile as she realised her pain was gone.

Before the Doctor knew what was happening Rose was up on her feet, twisting her leg and testing it before walking off. "Where are _you _going?"

Rose turned back and sighed. "Surely we've got to be getting back. Come on, the back door's this way."

"Actually, it's this way," the Doctor called after her, pointing in the opposite direction.

Jack sniggered and Rose blushed slightly. "I took a guess," she admitted, walking back to where the Doctor and Jack stood. The Doctor slipped his hand in hers without thinking.

"Thankyou," Rose said quietly as they started walking, pressing a kiss to his cheek shyly.

"How come I never get any of that?" Jack complained from a couple of steps behind them.

"Buy me a drink first," the Doctor replied without hesitation.

"Such hard work."

"But worth it."

Rose laughed, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder. He had never been more aware of his shoulder in his entire life than he was at that moment.

**Hope you enjoyed it, there should be one or two more chapters - couldn't resist the banter between the doctor and jack, had to put it in there, please forgive me! Review if you like, and thankyou for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I am SO sorry it had been so long between updates. This final chapter had been in the works for a couple of weeks, but I have been so busy at uni that I just haven't been able to finish it. Still, I hope you enjoy it. Thankyou for being so patient with me, I love you all.**

The next morning Sarah-Jane was off to school, so the toys waited until they heard the front door slam before coming out and getting on with whatever they were doing that day. The Doctor had been fast asleep, slumped down next to his TARDIS with his mouth hanging open. He felt a sharp pain in his arm, and opened his eyes to find Rose sitting beside him, grinning.

"Do you _have_ to keep on hurting me?" he mumbled, pushing himself up into a sitting position and rubbing his eyes.

"Well I wanted you to wake up. I've been waiting extremely patiently for ages but I got bored – did you know that you pull on your ear when you sleep?"

"I'm afraid I do. It's going to fall off one of these days, and then where will I be?"

Rose struggled not to laugh. "I don't know – maybe you could glue it back on?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her before jumping onto his feet, brushing off his pinstriped suit and stretching. "I'd rather not get to the point where I have to glue it back on, to be honest. I'll just start pulling the other one instead. At least that should stop them being wonky." He looked genuinely forlorn for a moment, a feeling that disappeared in a moment when Rose took his hand in hers. He was certain as he looked down at her face, smiling and shining with happiness, that he was blushing up to the tips of his (admittedly wonky) ears.

"I like them," Rose said, pulling on one of them gently, causing the Doctor to bat her hand away and feel relieved that she hadn't seemed to notice his face doing an impression of a tomato. "But anyway, I just wanted to wake you up to say thankyou. You know, for coming to get me last night."

"Well I couldn't just leave you there, could I? Besides,I'd be pretty lost without you." He just about managed to stop himself clamping his hand over his mouth. _You need to get a grip, _he told himself.

The Doctor excused himself from Rose's company for a moment, garbling some excuse about fixing up the TARDIS in order to grab a couple of minutes alone to get his head together.

Once he was alone he did not even attempt to work on the TARDIS, preferring to sit and stare at the blue painted roof of his cardboard spaceship, deep in thought.

Jack sidled up and sat beside him, not saying one word. The Doctor was immediately suspicious of Jack's silence, a feeling that became stronger as he realised how Jack was staring at him, a look of amusement on his handsome face. "If your picture isn't in the dictionary as the definition of "lovestruck idiot", then my name isn't Captain Jack Harkness."

The Doctor finally tore his eyes away from where they had gravitated, which was (unfortunately) towards Rose as she sat on the windowsill, swinging her legs to and fro (apparently her fall from out of the window had not given her a fear of heights,) and looked at Jack sharply. "I am _not _lovestruck," he replied, "I... I'm just happy."

"Yeah, and I wonder what could be making you quite this happy. I'm sorry Doctor, but a lot of the time you're a bit down – not that you don't have enough things to feel sad about," he added hastily, seeing a spark of anger flare in the Doctor's eyes, "but you've been happier than I've ever seen you in the past few days, and we both know why that is."

Jack was making too much sense, and the Doctor didn't like it. "I'm going over here now; I'll leave you to draw your conclusions in peace." Jack laughed, and the Doctor could feel Jack's eyes on his back as he stomped off across the room.

He spent the rest of the day sitting on the windowsill with Rose. His hand felt so comfortable in hers by now that he felt a pang of loneliness when he was not holding it, as though there was something missing that he couldn't quite put his finger on. They talked for a long time, the Doctor telling stories and anecdotes, feeling a spark of warmth in his chest whenever Rose laughed at what he was saying. Her smile was wide and beautiful, the sort of smile that demanded one in return. The Doctor found himself smiling without even realising, only aware that he had been doing it when his cheeks began to ache sometime in the early afternoon.

They were having such fun just being in each other's company that they were completely oblivious to Sarah-Jane's return from school, and only just managed to get back to their places before she came bursting in through the door.

As had become the norm, the Doctor and Rose were off on another adventure in the TARDIS, to a planet that Sarah-Jane called "New Earth" – apparently the old one had been blown up for some reason, and the new one was an improvement. After adventures involving diseased zombies, the Doctor and Rose celebrated with a victory hug – not as comfortable or as painless as the ones they shared when they were in control of their own bodies, but enjoyable nevertheless.

The game took a different turn today, as Sarah-Jane seemed to have decided that the Doctor and Rose were going to be in love with each other. It took every bit of strength that the Doctor possessed to keep his face straight as they "kissed". It wasn't anything like a real kiss should be (the Doctor was grateful for this. If he was ever actually going to kiss Rose – and he wasn't saying that he was going to – he wouldn't want it to be in the middle of a game.) Soon after this momentous moment – and after the Doctor and Rose's romance had been awarded a permanent place in the story of the game – Sarah-Jane was called down for dinner, and she threw the Doctor and Rose down on the floor in a pile, clattering off down the hall.

Immediately after Sarah-Jane had disappeared, the Doctor jumped up from where he had landed, crushing Rose on the floor, and pulled her up until she was standing beside him.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor stuttered, vaguely thinking that this had to be one of the most awkward moments of his entire life. "That was a bit sudden – are you OK?"

Rose smiled, twisting her fingers together. "It was fine – fun even, if you don't count the bit where we were thrown on the floor and you landed on me."

The Doctor laughed. "Yeah, as romantic moments go it wasn't exactly the best, was it."

There was a moment of absolute silence between them, neither one quite sure what to say, before Rose leaned forward and kissed the Doctor gently. He felt his eyes widen, his pulse quicken, he was absolutely certain that he was going to fall over in shock any second now. Rose pulled away, standing in front of him and smiling shyly. The Doctor felt a grin spread over his face, an outward sign of the warmth that was spreading through him. He felt like he was glowing, floating a couple of inches off the ground.

"That was much better," he told Rose, eyes telling her much more than the joking tone of his voice.

"I've got to agree with you on that one," she replied, turning around and wandering off across the room. The Doctor pulled a hand through his hair, staring after her with his ecstatic, goofy grin still plastered across his face.

"Nice," said Jack from just behind him. The Doctor did not even bother turning around; he was used to Jack creeping up on him. "You certainly played that cool – I heard from the other side of the room when your jaw hit the floor."

"You know," said the Doctor, turning to face Jack, facial expression finally under control, "I would say something cutting, but Rose just kissed me - I can barely remember your name. Hell, I can barely remember _my _name!"

"I heard that!" Rose yelled from across the floor, and the Doctor winced as Jack roared with laughter.

"Oh don't start," he said to Jack, pulling on his coat. He began to walk across the room towards Rose when Jack slung an arm around his shoulders and muttered to him.

"Just remember: I'm Jack, you're the Doctor, the blonde one is Rose and you love her."

The Doctor removed Jack's arm from his shoulders and rolled his eyes. Jack walked smoothly away, chuckling to himself, as the Doctor continued to walk towards Rose.

"Please tell me you did not hear our conversation," he said casually, though his insides were swirling like a washing machine.

"I can tell you that if you want, but it won't make it true." Rose had not even looked up at him, preferring to keep scrutinising the Etch-a-Sketch she was drawing a picture on, but he caught the smirk at the corners of her mouth, and he felt more relaxed and yet more nervous simultaneously.

"It's fine," Rose said calmly, finally looking up at him and smiling, "you are not very subtle and extremely rubbish at this, but you are brilliant anyway and I love you for it."

The Doctor was certain that his jaw dropped again. "You love me?"

Rose's head snapped towards him, eyes wide. "I mean... that is... I love that you are so rubbish, it's endearing, not that I love... oh stop it!" The Doctor's smug grin had been growing wider and wider as he watched Rose flounder for an explanation.

"It seems to me, Rose, that you are just as rubbish at this as I am."

Rose shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even as her voice shook. "That might be true, but at least _I _am rubbish in a way that gets things out in the open, rather than running away like you do."

"Well I'm not running away now, am I?" The Doctor smiled and moved closer, kissing her gently and slowly and fantastically. He flattered himself that, even without actually having asked Rose for marks out of ten, kissing was something that he was definitely _not _rubbish at.

The kiss was only broken when both the Doctor and Rose were smacked on the head with a plastic action figure's arm.

"I thought you could use a hand," shouted Jack.

The Doctor groaned and put his face in his hands. "I cannot believe you just said that!"

**There, that's the end. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will definitely be making this into a series, so keep an eye out for more stories from the Toy Story 'verse. Please review if you want to, and thankyou for reading. **


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